This invention relates to hubcaps for use with vehicle wheels and is particularly concerned with an improved retention structure for such hubcaps.
Hubcaps are used on car and truck wheels to cover the wheel or axle hubs. A hubcap can be both functional in protecting the hub from exposure and decorative in presenting an attractive appearance. The advantages of plastic materials render use of plastic desirable in certain instances for fabrication of hubcaps. Plastic can be molded to desired design and appearance shapes, can be decorated, and can provide suitable protection for the hub. Plastic also has the advantage of being light in weight.
Recent trends in the automotive industry involving downsizing of vehicles have imposed rather severe demands on many component parts. One of these is plastic hubcaps. It has been observed that in smaller front wheel drive vehicles, for example those having 13 or 14 inch tires, hubcaps are exposed to increased temperature levels over those which occur in larger vehicles. One reason for this is that the smaller wheels must revolve at higher r.p.m.'s for the same vehicle speed.
It has heretofore been proposed to incorporate retention structure directly into the plastic hubcap itself. While this is certainly desirable from a manufacturing cost standpoint, such plastic retention structure has been less than satisfactory for down-sized vehicles.
The problem of providing suitable hubcap retention is further compounded becaused of the build-up of tolerances in the various component parts which go to make up a hub and wheel construction. In the mass production of vehicles, individual component parts are subject to certain manufacturing tolerances. Because it is impractical to match individual components so as to keep the accumulation of tolerances within a very narrow range, wheel cover retention must be capable of accomodating the random assembly of individual component parts of the wheel and hub construction while still meeting the automobile manufacturer's performance specifications.
The present invention is directed to a new and improved retention structure which is particularly well-suited for mounting a plastic hubcap on a wheel. With the present invention the advantages of plastic construction for the hubcaps are realized while at the same time the hubcap is capable of meeting the current specifications established by automobile manufacturers. Particularly, a hubcap embodying principles of the invention is well suited for use with smaller front wheel drive type vehicles where plastic along is not. The invention renders a plastic hubcap securely retained on the wheel and hub assembly during use and can accommodate the overall tolerance range which is typical in the random assembly of the constituent parts of the wheel and hub construction. The hubcap of the present invention has the further advantage that it is an assembly of only two component parts, one of which is an outer plastic hubcap element and the other of which is an inner metal retention element. The outer plastic hubcap element provides the decorative and protective capabilities of a hubcap while the retention element provides the installation and retention characteristics.
For certain reasons in the design of a wheel and hubcap, it may be deemed desirable for the wheel fasteners which fasten the wheel to the axle or spindle to be exposed to view when the hubcap is mounted over the hub. The wheel fasteners may be decorative items themselves which present an attractive appearance in conjunction with the hubcap. Unfortunately such exposed fasteners impose a further restriction on the retention structure by which the hubcap is retained.
Prior attempts to incorporate integral plastic retention fingers into the hubcap itself for retentive engagement with the wheel fasteners have proved unsuccessful. They cannot accomodate the automobile manufacturer's specifications, particularly in the case of the down-sized vehicles.
The present invention solves the foregoing problem by having metal retention structure which engages the wheel fasteners to securely retain the hubcap on the hub and wheel assembly. More specifically, the present invention provides a plastic hubcap element and a metal retention element secured together. The metal retention element is disposed on the inside of the plastic hubcap element and includes retention tabs arranged in a pattern corresponding to that of the wheel fasteners and projecting from a main body into apertures in the plastic hubcap element so that the tabs retentively engage the wheel fasteners, which also are disposed within the apertures of the plastic hubcap element. In the disclosed preferred embodiment of hubcap, the apertures are circular holes, and each of the retention tabs is of circular contour coextensive with a radially inner edge segment of the corresponding hole and engaging the radially inner peripheral portion of the corresponding wheel fastener. The hubcap element and the retention element are secured together without any separate fasteners by lanced tabs formed in the retention element which engage plastic pins integrally formed with the plastic hubcap element.
The foregoing features, advantages, and benefits of the invention, along with additional ones, will be seen in the ensuing description and claims which should be considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
The drawings disclose a preferred embodiment of the invention according to the best mode contemplated at the present time for carrying out the invention.